


The Debt

by TJovanka



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, Dialogue Heavy, Dubious Consent, Extremely Dubious Consent, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Severus Snape, Post-War, Self-Sacrifice, Severus Snape Lives, Snape polyjuiced as Granger, flo of conscience
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 09:02:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17722193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TJovanka/pseuds/TJovanka
Summary: When Severus Snape saved Draco Malfoy in sixth year, the Malfoys owed him a debt of life. The game is to repay it, or die. Novella. Post-war. Snape lives. Draco/Hermione, Severus/Lucius. Some dubious Draco/Sererus. Illegal use of polyjuice potion, like, a lot.





	1. The debt and the deal

**Author's Note:**

> This little thingy came to me at 23:00 and I just had to get it out of my system. Sorry for the unbetaed chapter(s). If you spot any mistake please let me know. And sorry for the angst. I'm really sorry. This would be a very depressing novella, so here's the heads-up. Escape while you can!  
> \---TJ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucius came knocking, claiming his debt.

Chapter 1

Severus Snape had never felt angrier in his whole miserable existence. And he had never had a greater wish to see Lucius Malfoy drop dead. In fact, he would gladly contribute to the realization of that particular event.  
This was a joke of extremely bad taste. Severus thought bitterly. He had known the evil man called Lucius Malfoy for nearly the whole of his existence and had regretted it for exactly the same length of time. He had endured the man’s constant tease and derision as it had been nothing but words, as words themselves didn’t disturb him. But this, this is outright demeaning.  
Indeed he owed the old bastard his life. It was Lucius who had discovered him just in time after the bite of Nagini and did whatever he did to bring him back to life. As Lucius enjoyed pointing out at every opportunity, he had been deader than a beheaded hippogriff when he’d found him, however, since “the incredibly rich and noble house of Malfoy had always had the best of personal healers at their disposal” as he quoted, it wasn’t “that of a surprise” when Severus lived again, as skinny, greasy, and resentful as ever. But he did owe the bastard his life, and Lucius the sly snake never failed to remind him of that… inconvenience.  
So Lucius just pushed him into doing things. When he approached Severus’s personal chambers with a flask of ominous thick dark liquid in his hand, smirking, “Old man, how have you been?” Severus knew instantly that the devil had once again come to collect his debt.  
Since he couldn’t refuse whatever he asked. (Lucius would certainly come back with a more forceful blow if he did.) He just wished to Salazar that whatever was coming had better leave him with his head, hands, and testicles on afterward.  
Clearly, he was delusional to agree to this. The most humiliating act.  
“I was doing exceptionally well,” Severus grunted, as he stepped aside to let Lucius in, “until the devil came knocking.”  
“Dear, dear,” Lucius knocked his walking stick on the inside of the door to make it close properly. And perhaps to also set up a nonverbal spell against potential eavesdroppers. Severus checked, also nonverbally, that an upgraded version of muffliato was indeed installed around the walls of his room. He grunted once more.  
“My Severus, one death certainly wasn’t enough to rid you of your sarcastic greeting fashion.”  
“Maybe we should make it two so I would no longer be inflicted with the constant sight of you.”  
“I wouldn’t permit that, my dear friend.” Lucius announced mischievously, settling himself comfortably in one of the armchairs beside the mantelpiece, put the flask of liquid on the nearby table, and indicated Severus to do the same. ”well, let’s say…I would suggest you postpone doing anything like that until after…we clear our little debt.”  
“I live to serve.” Severus did nothing to cover his sarcastic tone. ”Name your need. I assume it concerns a round of fucking with me being one of your fantasy inaccessible goddesses? That bottle of poorly made polyjuice potion looks rather ominous. Who would know, that Lucius Malfoy, the model of rich bastards, should appeal to such pitiful method to get a fuck.”  
“Well, I wouldn’t do it if there weren’t this little problem that some of them are underage. We don’t want to break the law, do we? Being responsible, rule-abiding and honest adult wizards as we are. ”Lucius gave a sly, knowing smile.  
Severus ignored him. He sat on the other armchair by the mantelpiece, picked the flask up and examined it closely. “I stand corrected. This is actually an adequate dose, and rather inventive, adding fully matured Ginseng to achieve a strengthening effect of longtime transformation…the individual taking it would stay transformed for, let’s say…approximately 12 weeks.” Severus put the flask down, eyes glaring with suppressed emotion. “This is not your usual preparation. I wouldn’t presume your brewing skills has improved since our last…meeting. Someone else made it.”  
The expression on Severus’s face was a murderous calmness, and Lucius had the grace to flinch. “I wouldn’t…”  
“We talked about it, Lucius. You don’t whore me out. That. Is. The. Deal.”  
Lucius made a grimace.  
“Severus, stay calm. It’s not what you think.”  
“How much?”  
“What?”  
“How. Much.” Severus gritted his teeth, feeling a tiny bit betrayed. For what, he didn’t know.  
“I…I’m not…you’ll be paid however much you want, if you agree to do it.” It was Lucius who first lost his calm façade.  
Severus looked indignant.  
“Fine. This will be part of the debt.” Lucius snapped.  
“I’m not asking…”Severus blushed.  
The man was unbelievable. And then Lucius understood. He waved his hand determinedly. “No, Severus. I’m not whoring you out, and no, I’m not getting anything from this deal.” He pointed his walking stick at the fireplace to start a fire. It was early spring in London and the night was still chilly. “All this, is for Draco.” Lucius sighed.  
Severus raised an eyebrow. “Surely you wouldn’t want your own son being fu…”  
“I want you to help him.” He entwined his fingers in front of him and finally settled them on the head of his walking stick between his open legs. “Anyway you feel like. If you please. It’s been hard for the both of us but I doubt Draco has been coping it well.” He added, uncomfortably. “You know him better than me and if you could just help him, I would…”  
“Release me from the debt?” Severus was disgusted by his hopeful tone but it has to be said.  
“I…” Lucius looked into the fire, with a somewhat pained expression. Then he decided, “Of course.”  
“I’m intrigued.” Severus was genuinely intrigued. What on earth would make this sadistic bastard lose his game? “Tell. Me. Everything.”  
The night was dying. Their conversation proceeded until the morning chime rang. At last, Severus was left alone in his dingy little room with a strand of curly brown hair and a flask of perfectly brewed polyjuice potion that he would grade upon a very rare outstanding if he were still teaching in Hogwarts.  
Then he knew.  
“That bloody evil fucker!”  
He had never desired less to see the day that Lucius Malfoy dropped dead.  
However, it seemed like he had just agreed to do exactly that.


	2. Dreams and wishes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter. Also unbetaed. Dialogue/monologue warning. Main characters are Draco and Hermione. Some revelations will be made. Read on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own Harry Potter. I wish I did...

Chapter 2

Draco Malfoy was getting married. Well. Today.   
He would be 30 in a few months and if he didn’t marry before he turned 30 he would lose his heritage to his little cousin, Teddy Lupin. If it came to that, he would marry out of responsibility, but there was one person he couldn’t let go. He couldn’t marry some random match without knowing what had happened to her. Why she disappeared 3 years ago and, why no one ever mentioned her ever since. They were in love, weren’t they? They had the most wonderful time together and they were finding happiness in each other. At least he was. What happened? Why did she abandon him? Where had she been hiding? Why did she retreat from the wizarding community in the first place? Did she, indeed, die, as Father had always ferociously objected?   
Today Draco was going to put all that behind him and marry the younger Greengrass girl, Astoria. Arranged marriages weren’t perfect. But in time they would come to tolerate each other, just as his parents had done. However, before all that started, he had a meeting with Professor Snape, the man he had respected and adored since childhood.   
So there he was, at exact lunchtime, waiting at a table for two in a French restaurant called “Les délicates” in Oxford Street, London. He knew that professor Snape moved to muggle London since his retirement after the fall of Voldemort. So it wasn’t a surprise for him to arrange a meeting here. But what did surprise him, was that Snape, the forever punctual entity didn’t show up at all. As oncoming customers gradually filled up the empty tables. Draco started to doubt whether the piece of parchment he received the night before wasn’t another fragment of his imagination.   
He was doing badly these days. Ever since Mother died, Draco simply collapsed mentally. Nothing would anchor him into the real world anymore. He sometimes floated in his daydreams, where his mother was still alive. He would daydream about one girl, a certain fizzy haired know-it-all.   
He wouldn’t come to register the real world. He didn’t want to either. Here, nothing mattered. There was nothing worth living for. He was barely getting it together for the Malfoy name. He knew for a while now that he was half insane. Maybe that’s why he would imagine meeting up with Snape, to find a cure, or just to talk to his godfather like they did in the good old days? What he really want, was to see Granger, before his inevitable wedding took place in some 8-hour time. He hadn’t dreamt about her since Mother died, seeing that he could only handle one pain at a time.   
But today was special. Draco prayed, dear Merlin, please let me dream about Granger. Please let me see her.   
And then Merlin granted the poor guy’s wish. With a cracking sound of the door, in sailed a familiar witch of about 20 or so years old. Her fizzy brown hair untamed and danced up and down as she walked tentatively towards Draco’s table.   
Outside the restaurant, a layer of snow covered the ceiling of houses, streets and the top of red phone boxes. Passers-by hurried to their perspective destinations, hands planted in their pockets, breathes forming circles of white steam. Granger was rolled up in a long-to-feet heavy coat while the thick scarf covered half of her face. The only visible part was her hair. Draco recognized her nonetheless. Just the perfect image to begaze upon on a lazy afternoon.  
He smiled, “Where have you been, gorgeous?”  
Granger stopped midway, looking surprised, then returned a weak smile.  
“Come, sit with me.” Draco indicated the chair opposite him, initially intended for the imaginary Snape. He felt much better when it was Granger who finally came out of his head rather than the cold, insensitive former potions master.  
Granger sat, took off her coat and handed it to the waiter, revealing a lovely V-neck cashmere sweater. Draco kept his eyes on her the whole time, concentrating with his willpower to make sure the image of her would stay long enough and not disappear too quickly.   
“I’ve missed you.” Draco reached out to touch her hand. Granger froze for about a second, then smiled back, a somewhat empathizing look in her eyes.  
“I’m glad you came.” Draco’s heart lightened and he felt somewhat happier. “I should tell you though, I’m getting married today. I wished it was with you, but this time I actually have to think about others for once. The Malfoy heritage cannot go to another name. And even I could tell that Father wasn’t doing so well himself. He wept, you know. Like every night.” Draco let go of a sad laugh.   
He didn’t notice Granger’s stunned expression and carried on with his monologue. “Thought I could at least do something that actually doesn’t enrage him for once. Well, you probably didn’t know, my old man was dying. He hid his medical documents from me but I managed to loosen up his healer so I knew.” Draco smoothed Granger’s sleeve unconsciously and continued. “His condition can’t be healed at this stage. Snape told me that. You have to give him credit though. That old git. He is the best I know of and if he can’t do anything, no one can. He saved my life once and my family owes him a debt of life. Even he was under the unbreakable vow then. The Malfoys remember and repay their benefactors. It’s in our blood.”   
Draco picked up his half glass of white wine. “Aren’t you drinking? If not wine, some coffee?” Granger nodded gratefully but was yet to utter her first word since her entrance.   
“Garçon,” Draco beckoned for the waiter to place another order. “Latte for the lady please, one sugar, no milk.” He turned to talk to Granger, “I still remember how you took it, vividly. You had a big scene over the no-milk part at the manor. I mean, you are quite the special girl, as Mother once commented, who upright refusing to taste even one drop of a milked latte. She liked your stubbornness. It reminded her of herself you know. And she told me afterward to marry you and to spoil the life out of you. Father wasn’t so pleased, however. Hey. You don’t need to stop hating him just because he’s dying. I know he was horrible to you. Sometimes even I wished him to die. And Merlin seems to favor me these days, I continually got what I wanted.” Draco looked at his girl encouragingly. “I allow you to revel in his death.”  
Granger was teary. She was somewhat mournful. And she spoke, with a shaky voice. “Don’t you have the best healers in Malfoy Manor? Isn’t that how Lu-your dad saved Severus Snape?”  
“They were a bunch of dunderheads. Father sacked them years ago. ”  
“But surely, if they saved Snape even after he died, they could work miracles.”  
“Miracles.” Draco snorted. “Is that what they wrote in the papers, ‘Former double-agent Severus Snape miraculously came back from the dead after being bitten by Voldemort’s Horcrux snake’? No. It wasn’t a miracle. Snape was indeed dead for a while. The miracle was that my selfish Father chose to do what he did. It was the debt. You know. We owed Snape a life. My life. And under the old magic of Malfoy blood, we cannot let him die without settling the debt first. He must live. And if he couldn’t. One of us would die. With no interference, the responsibility would naturally fall on me. But Father negotiated.”  
Draco noticed Granger’s sad face. “I don’t know why I’m even telling you any of this. You shouldn’t be concerned. The old man deserved it after what he did to you. You are just so kind, aren’t you, showing pity to an evil man?”  
“He negotiated?”  
“With Death. Ancient magic. Very dark. Ironically, that was actually the only kind thing he’d done his whole life. I was utterly surprised. He offered to prolong Snape’s life in exchange for some years of his own until we were able to repay him and clear the debt. But I suppose he’s overdone it and shortened his life-expectancy too much. Of course, once he died, the debt would automatically settle itself. One life for another. We wouldn’t owe Snape anymore.”   
Granger’s face was tormented for a while, then turned to outrage, then she started to wail, attracting the attention of the whole room. People turned their head to see what was going on over here, murmuring and casting reproachful glances at Draco, blaming him silently for the suffering of the girl in front of him. Draco noticed this. And jumped out of his chair.  
“Wh-what?” Draco was stunned. He took a good look at the wailing girl as if he’d only just seen her. “Gr-Granger?” Tears immediately ran down his face. “Is-is that you?”  
Draco wiped his eyes desperately, several times, until his eyeballs turned red with bloody veins. “No. Bloody. Way.”   
He grasped her hands, meanwhile examining every inch of her face. Now he was shaking, with the unbelief of the turn of event, the fear of all of it being another crazy dream, and finally, the happiness that he thought was deprived from him forever. He was grinning, and crying, and choking on his tears at the same time.   
“You are real.” He said with a shaky voice, the tone of it more like a confirmation than a question. “How can you be real? But you are. And you didn’t age at all! Exactly like in my dreams. Only that you are not a dream. You are real. You are here. Granger. You aren’t my imagination, or are you?” Draco looked at her desperately, his eyes red and hot and full of desire and fear and rapture.  
Granger shook her head weakly, her eyes still wet, her fizzy hair dancing. “I’m here, Draco. I came back. ”   
She stood to hug him, tightly. “And I’m not going anywhere.”


	3. Curses and lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snape's inner struggle. More revelations. Plot alert: no one is what they appear to be. Polyjuice, remember?
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, although I'm proud to have invented the Amor Virum curse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. I got this up earlier than I thought. A big thank you to all for taking the time to read this little crazy fic. Thanks for the kudos, you guys rock. And a special thank you and kisses to user: AlbaBlume18 for bookmarking. You made me so happy. Read on.  
> \---TJ

Chapter 3

Severus cursed inwardly as he hugged the boy Draco. Lucius turned out to be eviler than he originally thought. He should lie to him for 12 years. For 12 bloody years, Lucius made him believe that he owed him and threatened him to do those unspeakable deeds. For 12 bloody years, he hid the truth and made Severus hate him. And now when he’s dying, he dared to conflict him with the truth. Yes, he had intended for Severus to know everything Draco just told him. In fact, Severus wouldn’t put it past him to have orchestrated the whole thing.

How dare Lucius pass the burden to him when it became insufferable to bear? How dare he make Severus the guilty one at the end of it all? Does he have no decency, no goodwill of a dying man, no…repentance…at all?

Of course not. Severus snorted. He had known the devil his whole life. And he shouldn’t be surprised at this. It was just…outrageous. And…overwhelming.

And the boy. They had conversed before, of course with him being the professor and not the Granger girl. He never realized Draco’s condition should be this severe.

The lovesick fool.

Luckily, Draco’s illness was yet treatable. The boy suffered from an ancient but omnipresent love curse: _Amor Virum_. The curse would render anyone who is out of the reach of his one true love gravely sick, the symptom varies from person to person, including illusions of loved one, talking to oneself, immune weakness to other minor curses, random libido surges, etc. Other behavioral abnormalities are also observed. Muggles would call it neurosis, or craziness. But wizards have a more subtle diagnosis. We call it _Amor Virum_. The virus of love. If not dealt with in time, the sickness would aggravate, become life-threatening, and in a later stage contaminate others, muggles and wizards alike. The cure, ironically, is possible two ways: the presence of love, or the eradication of it.

Lucius knew him too well. He came to the right wizard. Severus himself had been cursed by it in his youth. His condition was triggered, of course, in his seventh year at Hogwarts when a certain red hair muggle-born witch left him and married another. He began to fade away, and he believed he would soon die. It was a powerful wizard who discovered the miserable boy and gave him the thing he needed. Hatred. He accepted the dark mark like a drowning man did with a lifeboat and recovered almost immediately. The curse was broken. And Severus himself became immune from _Amor Virum_ hence.

As for Draco, he could help him indeed. However, without the aid of that powerful wizard, he could hardly infuse hatred into the boy with a dark mark. Hatred, compared to love, is much more difficult to achieve. Maybe that was what made the late Dark Lord so omnipowerful. Growing hatred was like burying a bag of beans in the Sahara desert, only with the most meticulous care and method can you make it take root and prosper. The Dark Lord did it so easily. He could make people soaked with hatred within only 15 minutes of his speech, if only you could hear it. However, Severus couldn’t say he ever hated Lord Voldemort. He’d feared him, respected him, but never hated him. After the death of Lily, he’d only turned to hate himself.

Lucius was at least honest about this. Draco needed treatment from someone who had first-hand experience with _Amor Virum_ , someone immune, and someone who hated himself so much that he couldn’t bear living this way any longer. Severus could try helping Draco. By hatred, or by love. However, old Lucius was wrong about one thing. Severus Snape didn’t, and couldn’t love anyone even if his life depended on it. And _Amor Virum_ the big bad curse wouldn’t be fooled by a simple dose of polyjuice potion, however well brewed.

Hatred it is then. Severus was the best of the best in this area. He would bring the boy back to normal. For the healing process to start, he would need someone to anchor Draco to reality. As it turned out, a polyjuiced Granger did that perfectly.

***

_Three hours ago, before the meeting at “Les delicates”._

It was a windy Saturday morning. Severus poured himself a glass of Lucius’s polyjuice, threw in several Granger’s brown hairs and drank up. Slowly transformed in his night robe, he felt delicate and sensitive. His skin felt softer, his chest was narrower but plump. And the constant lump between his legs disappeared. His vision became clearer without his reading glasses. As he looked into the mirror, a half-dressed Granger looked back at him, eyes glaring, lips stiff, hair a total mess.

He also registered the world to be more colorful than he remembered. His dingy room suddenly too somber so he opened the forever closed curtain and let the light in. He touched his hair, her hair, and snorted. Those insufferable untamable fizzy curls actually felt rather soft. He decided to leave it like that. The next thing he did was to brew a strong contraceptive potion. He would be living in this body for 3 months, and wouldn’t want to be bothered with the female monthly period. It wasn’t so bad, being a woman. Severus was becoming at ease with the female body anatomy. He had abundant experience as a woman with Lucius. He’d been Bellatrix, he’d been some random muggle Lucius picked up from Merlin knows where, he’s even been some underage girl that he suspected was still in Hogwarts, and then he’d been Narcissa.

Lucius made him do it to satisfy his sick sense of humor and unexpressed sadistic nature. He’d bring a dose of polyjuice and urge Severus to drink. Severus would indulge him. Then they would fuck. Lucius would penetrate Severus’s vagina and Severus would writhe under him, letting a totally different sensation drown him, overwhelm him, and make him oblivious of everything else.

And now he was the Granger girl. Only for a completely different purpose. It’d been a while since Lucius last sought him out for something like this. He had wondered whether the bastard had finally decided to leave him alone. Clearly not.

However, Lucius did promise to release him from the debt if he did this. How hard could it be? Certainly Malfoy junior didn’t share his father’s perversity? Or maybe it ran in the family? Severus had played with Lucius well enough, certainly, he could handle a junior version of him. He would do this for his freedom.

Lucius had filled him in the night before on the story of Granger and Draco. The couple was deeply in love since their 7th year at Hogwarts. Then as they decided to marry and everything, the war broke, Voldemort died, Severus himself died and was brought back, Granger left Draco, Narcissa died, Lucius fell sick, then Draco fell sick. What he didn’t specify was why and where Granger left, Lucius decidedly wouldn’t tell him anything more than necessary, simply emphasizing that Severus was the only one capable to help his son. He then gave Severus a strand of brown curls together with the flask of high strength polyjuice and informed him to get his inner Granger ready and present at lunchtime at “Les Delicates”.

Early this morning, Severus received an owl package decorated by a green floral bow. It contained a set of female clothes, and a short note reading “Wear them. - L”

Severus rolled his eyes.

“What a pretentious asshole.”

He dressed up. Severus looked into the mirror, a familiar young woman of 20 or so years old looked back at him and attempted a weak smile. He charmed his ebony wand to look like a certain vine wood one. Then he pointed the wand tip at his throat and put on a nonverbal _Imitantur sonos_ to synchronize Granger’s vocal cords with his own.

“Hello,” a high pitched feminine voice drifted out of the small delicate body wrapped in a heavy long coat, “my name is Hermione Granger.”

Severus smiled to the mirror Granger, and she smiled back. Indeed, he could be the good old Hermione Granger who was always ready to go. He could even become her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The spells in this chapter was translanted into Latin by Google translator.   
> Amor Virum: virus of love  
> Imitantur sonos: imitate sound.


End file.
